State-controlled RBS is axing more jobs, shifting nearly 300 back-office roles to service centres in India in a move that has infuriated the Unite union.

David Fleming, Unite's national officer, said: "These highly skilled workers in the finance function of the bank can earn as little as £22,500 per year. Instead of sending financial services work from the UK to a low-wage economy, RBS should ensure employees are able to get on with the work they do so well. Why is RBS awarding the investment bankers massive bonuses yet sacking thousands of workers?"

He said the impact would be felt mainly in Edinburgh, where RBS has its head office, and in London. The job losses affect 215 full-time staff and 83 temporary positions, mostly in the finance departments that support key RBS divisions such as corporate banking.

The bank said: "As we work to rebuild RBS we continue to streamline our business to ensure that we remain competitive. We have embarked upon a three-year transformation programme across our finance division which will increase efficiency and allow us to serve our customers better.

"The movement of roles between countries reflects the global nature of our business and the need to locate our people close to the customers they serve. Having to cut jobs is the most difficult part of our work to rebuild RBS. We will do all we can to support our staff, offer redeployment opportunities where possible and keep compulsory redundancies to an absolute minimum."

RBS's chief executive, Stephen Hester, who has said his job is equivalent to defusing the "biggest time bomb in history", has shrunk the bank's assets by more than £700bn and cut more than 35,000 jobs since he took over from Fred Goodwin in 2008.

Last month, RBS pleaded to be treated as a fully commercial business as it confirmed it was paying out £785m in bonuses despite recording a deficit of £2bn in 2011. As the bank announced a fourth consecutive year of losses since its bailout in October 2008, its chairman, Sir Philip Hampton, argued that RBS needed to be run on "commercial grounds" if taxpayers were to get their £45bn investment repaid. The state is currently sitting on a £20bn loss on its 82% stake.